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Nerissa
Esmeray, most recently known as Nerissa, was high priestess of the Old God Razikale. She has been involved in various significant events throughout the history of Thedas. Overview Appearance Nerissa has taken on many appearances over the years, both male and female. Her most commonly used appearance, as of 8:91 Blessed–9:43 Dragon is a female human of slight build with brown hair and eyes and approximately 5'7", appearing to be around 20 years old. This is her real appearance. Though she can take on many, she prefers being in this form and does so as often as she can, as it saves mana. Biography History Nerissa, real name Esmeray, was raised in ancient Tevinter. A powerful mage, she was appointed to the position of High Priestess of Razikale at a young age. At the age of twenty, she and the seven other high priests of the Old Gods met up in a secluded location with the intention of using their powers to enter the Golden City. While originally on-board, Esmeray changed her mind at the last moment, fearing the consequences. Having been accompanied by a lower priestess, when Esmeray resisted, she was attacked and left for dead, and the lower priestess was given her position. After the new eight magisters made their way into the Fade, they were corrupted and became the first darkspawn. A dying Esmeray, perhaps from her farther distance to the opening, not having used her powers, or maybe even divine intervention, was spared from the curse and instead cursed with immortality, unable to age or die from any types of wounds. She fled Tevinter and took on a new name. Two years into the first Blight, after first facing darkspawn and feeling a connection them, Esmeray, now going by Dorcia, theorized that when the Blight ended, so would her immortality. She needed help, and in the Fade, she came across the elven god Dirthamen, who offered to teach her old spells in return for two favors. One was to seal off her mana reserves as they grew over the years. She was to keep this magic sealed in a necklace until he told her she could release it. His second request was that she allow him to use her body when he needed it to confront his enemy, whose identity she assumed was the Dread Wolf. Nerissa agreed to his terms and learned various spells, including the ability to transform into animals and people after intense observation (a useful tactic for hiding her immortality) and to split herself into two. The major spells were ultimately not needed, as the soldiers found out that drinking the blood of darkspawn allowed them to sense them and kill the Archdemon for good. Dorcia became known as one of the founding members of the Wardens. Years later, going by the name Lysana, Esmeray met Andraste. While not necessarily believing in the Maker, Esmeray believed in Andraste, and told Andraste her story, which she had never told anyone before. True to her benevolent nature, Andraste forgave her, and assured her the Maker would end her pain when she had redeemed herself in His eyes. To this day, Lysana is known as an immortal disciple of Andraste. While history has lost much of the truth, she is known as a dear friend of Andraste and a figure who committed a grave sin that was forgotten by history and was cursed with immortality by the Maker but forgiven by Andraste. She is known as a figure of redemption and is often warped by the Chantry into being used as propaganda saying that non-Andrastians can find forgiveness if they turn to the Maker. Lysana is known only by the Divines to possess a special amulet that will reveal herself. She is able to gain their aid in times of need with this amulet. Similarly, Esmeray is still known as one of the founding Wardens, Dorcia, but her immortality is known only to Warden Commanders, who can confirm her identity by asking her to complete a phrase and if truly needed for confirmation, watching her die and come back. Nerissa is also known by the Dalish as Ash’Abelas, the Woman of Sorrows, and her tale differs from that told by the Chantry. As her appearance is unknown, she is only recognized through ancient magic that reveals otherwise invisible tattoos on her arms that are similar in appearance to the style of vallaslin. In-game and Books In 8:96 Blessed, shortly after meeting Loghain, Maric Theirin meets Esmeray, who goes by the name Gwynyth. After the death of Andraste, Gwynyth refused to get involved with politics or people, but seeing war ravage her old friend’s homeland, she joined Maric. Despite closing herself off to people after the death of her dear friend, she couldn’t help but become friends with Maric, Loghain, Rowan and Katriel, who all called her Gwyn. They were her first friends since the death of Andraste. Shortly after the Orlesian War, Gwyn, Maric, Loghain and a group of soldiers were clearing out small camps of Orlesians but got split up. Gwyn and Maric ran into an extremely powerful mage. Knowing they couldn’t take him on, Gwyn demanded Maric escape, as he was more important. When Maric came back for her, the mage and Gwyn were gone, nothing left but a pool of blood. Years later, after the death of Rowan, Gwyn appeared at her resting place, with her face covered in a shawl. Maric confronted her, not knowing who she was, and Gwyn revealed herself. She explained that she had been captured by Orlesians and tortured for information until she finally got free. The two being years older now, Gwyn lied that her face had been scarred from the torture so that Maric couldn’t see she hadn’t aged. Maric convinced her to stay, and she agreed, unable to help wanting to come back to her friend. When the Warden Commander Genvieve arrived years later asking Maric for help, Gwyn felt bound by duty to go with them to the Deep Roads. While there, Gwyn and Julian were killed by a Dragon. When Fiona went to look at her wounds, she saw them heal by themselves and ordered everyone to step back. Seeing Gwyn seemingly come back to life, they raised their blades, assuming she was a demon. Genvieve was the only one who didn’t prepare to attack and said, “With their blood we become them,” to which Gwyn replied, “With their blood they will fall.” Gwyn was forced to reveal her identity as Dorcia and Lysana, taking off her shawl and revealing her unaged face. They continued their journey, but Gwyn warned Maric that once this was over, he would return to the castle claiming she was dead. While trapped in the Fade, trusting Maric would fine her, Gwyn remained in the illusion of her and Andraste in their meeting place in the forest. Gwyn changed forms upon leaving the Deep Roads in case they ran into anyone they knew. She saw Maric tell Loghain she had died, and he was devastated; this also contributed to his hatred of the Grey Wardens. Gwyn left with Fiona and Duncan and returned to Maric with them months later with Alistair. After deciding to give Alistair a life elsewhere, Duncan swore to check in on him, and Gwyn swore to look over him. She looked over Alistair in Redcliffe under a different form, going by the name Hortense until he was sent to the Chantry. Gwyn left for the Chantry with Alistair, where she became a sister. She took on her old form which she had known Maric as, for sentimentality, and began to use the name "Nerissa". She would occasionally see Duncan, who checked in on Alistair from time to time, and when Alistair was recruited and Duncan and Nerissa could tell a Blight was coming, she joined the fight under a new identity: Emmett. In order to get more recruits, Nerissa split into two. In addition to Emmett, she became Celeste, using her original appearance which she had used as Nerissa. As Celeste, she only planned on recruiting, therefore having no intention of meeting Alistair or Loghain, she went to Kinloch Hold, where she recruited Alim Surana. As Emmett, she went to Highever and recruited Elissa Cousland. Duncan would recruit Jisenia Tabris. Upon returning to Ostagar as Celeste, she immediately saw off Alim, putting him under Duncan's command when he came back, and then dispersed. Upon hearing of the Landsmeet and realizing that Loghain would likely die, Nerissa burst into the Landsmeet in her true form. Using her magic, she managed to pause time in the entire building with magic connected to the Fade. As her target, Loghain was unaffected. As Alistair, Alim and Jisenia were once trapped in the Fade by Sloth, they were unaffected. Alim and Alistair, recognizing her, both said her different names at once, causing even more confusion. She approached Loghain, who called out to her as Gwyn and was convinced that he was hallucinating due to blood loss. She assured him it was her, apologizing for having told so many lies and promising to continue his search for Maric. As soon as he died, she fled, and time resumed the moment she left the room. IN PROGRESS Links Reddit Headcanon and Writing Prompt Threads: * Beginning the journey to Ostagar with Elissa (as Emmett) * Ethera is confronted by Marsaili (mentioned) * Offering Ethera advice Category:Human Category:Mage Category:Non-protagonist Category:Spirit Healer Category:Force Mage Category:Shapeshifter Category:UniverseIsAHologram